All Pump

Amy Bento
Year Released: 2004

Categories: Total Body Workouts


Amy is very natural and easy in front of the camera. The infamous "Woo's" are more of a vocal sound during exhale than an "I'm having SO much fun!!" sound, and once I realized that I no longer heard them.

The workout is 40 minutes long and the beat is faster than most traditional strength training workouts which I liked. No boring, endless sets of reps while standing there looking into space! Amy mixes it up with tempo changes and variations, all while staying positive and encouraging without sounding scripted or uncomfortable.

Five background exercisers join her and I like how the camera stays on HER or the whole gang. No strange side or face shots just when you need to see what Amy is doing. This is a very well-produced workout.

They use a 10 inch step (as a weight bench), five, eight and ten pound dumbbells, a 40# barbell, and a stability ball. The warmup is about four minutes long and is basic back and forth movement with knee lifts and things, and a short stretch afterwards.

The first move is the only time we're stepping on and off the step and it's slow. With five pound weights you step onto the bench, then extend the opposite leg from the knee while doing front delt raises. After those sets you do two side squats, alternating sides, while simultaneously doing lateral delt lifts. Your shoulders will burn by the end of this!

Then we place one heel on a five pound weight and alternate split stance static lunges while holding 10 pound weights, changing feet as we change sides. This really hits the quads!! We stretch afterwards.

Next come the barbell squats. Warning ... she does three fast sets 16, alternating with 8 fast curtsy dips first to one side then the other. The last set of cursy dips is only 4 on each side but by that time ANY weight you are holding is going to be heavy, so be careful choosing your weight. I picked up my 18 pound body bar since I didn't have my barbell ready, and that was easy, but 40# would have been too much for me.

Then we place a mat on the step and sit on it in an incline, hugging the sides with our legs and holding ten pound weights for bicep work. Killer! We alternate hammer curls with individual hammer curls fast, then to regular curls, then fast hammer curls again. The tens were more than enough weight for me, and I could really feel my abs too.

Next we kneel on the step and use eight pound weights for alternating triceps kickbacks which again are fast, then we put the weights on the step in front of us in an "A" and do triceps pushups. Burn! Then we stretch.

Uneven pushups with one hand off and one hand on the step are next. They are all on their toes, they do ten on each side, and they're fast.

Then we get the ball and use it to balance one hand on while we do a series of lat rows with the other, using positions I've never seen before. I could feel my lats though, and I didn't see anything I would consider bad or dangerous form, so that was nice to learn of a new variation for this exercise.

We then do tuck-in's while in a plank with the shins on the ball, then do them again but this time bringing our knees to the side, alternating sides.

We then sit on the step and do what Amy calls "sunshines", which consist of you in an incline and taking the ball up over your head first to one side, and then to the other. It works the obliques. The final exercise is 24 FAST kickouts - incline position with your hands on the back of the step, and you kick your legs in and out. You WILL feel your abs. Then the final stretch.

I give this a solid A!

Instructor Comments:

Carol_is_fit

05/14/2006